Inside the Box
by LittleQueenie
Summary: When Kurapika sets out to capture Chrollo at an unexpected moment, he succeeds but finds himself questioning the spider's motives when they can do nothing more than talk until others arrive.


He'd always been fascinated by those scarlet eyes, but he never thought he'd get a close look to live ones for this long.

'You're not putting Judgment chain on me again?' He asked to be sure, but all Kurapika did was shake his head lightly. The blonde slouched over a bit more in the cramped space they were both currently inhabiting. How they'd gotten there mostly had to do with Kurapika's change of heart halfway through Chrollo's capture.

'There's little use if you have someone in your direct vicinity that can take that away anyway.' There was a second reason for it, but Kurapika kept it silent at this point.

'Then your aim this time was to kill me?' It was a moot question, it hadn't gotten unnoticed to Chrollo what Kurapika's intentions had been at the start.

The grey-eyed man leaned back against the wall a bit more, and shuffled his foot a bit more comfortably next to where Kurapika was sitting, laying his arm on his knee and not letting his eyes wander from the blonde. Killing him for his eyes now would be a waste; he didn't have the proper items with him to secure them, and the life in them would fade within seconds. Kurapika must have deducted this as well that he did not seem worried.

'You seem to have problems killing.' He looked back up when those words were uttered, and Chrollo got a hint of red from the livid eyes in front of him. Technically Uvogin had killed himself. Kurapika could easily have done this without Judgment chain, but he didn't. It was that same weakness that had prevented him from trying to finish what he'd set up.

Chrollo huffed amusedly at that look before Kurapika slowly relaxed his eyes again and the red turned back to the light brown. He hadn't retorted because he knew Chrollo was right. Killing wasn't something he took satisfaction in. Perhaps it was because he knew how it felt to lose, and that the spiders could feel loss as well, perhaps empathy had developed too strongly within him – it didn't matter. Fact remained that even though he'd set up a perfect plan… he still wasn't able to kill the head of the spiders.

'Unlike you.'

'I have very little, I take what I want.'

'I've noticed this.'

'I will continue doing this if you don't kill me now.'

'I am aware of this.' Kurapika raised his voice a bit and pushed the leg beside him away, bumping it against the wall there.

'You have the perfect plan, why don't you follow through?' The soulless stare reached deep inside the blonde. Such carelessness even though there were people who cared about him irked him. Not in the last place because he knew the man before him wasn't soulless. 'Why did you entrap yourself as well?'

'I can leave whenever I want, you can't.'

'My question remains.'

'It's hard to find out why I can't kill you when I can't see or talk to you, isn't it?'

'If you still want to find out, you will have to talk more than now, the room will probably crush us within the hour.'

'I am aware of this.' It'd been a small gap in the people looking over Chrollo of which Kurapika had taken advantage. Hisoka had been sent away to make sure their fight wouldn't take place immediately, and the conjurer had left before other spiders could arrive. Kurapika hadn't been able to chain him – hadn't expected to do so, but he _had _been able to conjure up these walls. The blonde's first intention had been to entrap Chrollo and let impenetrable walls close in and crush the spider. However, even during their fight, Kurapika had shown signs of reluctance over something so cruel. In his mind his wrath was endless and he would see Chrollo burn in hell for all eternity. But when it came down to it, even this man seemed to be a human being;

So once inside the walls, Kurapika had sealed the room, but only given it a time limit to crush them; wanting to give himself a time limit to his own thoughts as well. Slowly but surely these conjured walls were pushing them closer together.

'The only thing you're doing is trying to find the one thought that will make you able to kill me. However, such a thought is in contradiction to everything you believe, and you will not be able to force yourself. Even if you kill me, it will haunt you, won't it? Revenge never relieves.' Kurapika squinted back some more right before the walls triggered to push them even closer together.

By now there was no other choice left for Chrollo than to put his legs next to Kurapika. The blonde weaved his own underneath them next to the spider against the wall and lay his arms crossed on his knees. In half an hour they would be pressed together, and in an hour the crushing would begin. However, Kurapika didn't seem one inch closer to finding himself an answer out of this situation.

'I am willing to live with the empty feeling if it means that you can't do to others what you've done to my clan.'

'But still you haven't done anything.'

'Tch…' Kurapika hissed at that answer. Was it impossible for him to follow through with this?

'You and I both know that revenge is not your priority. You only want to recover the lost eyes of your clan. You're only using the reason of prevention of more death as an excuse. You want to burden yourself with this task, but when it comes down to it, you don't care enough to put yourself aside for complete strangers, do you?' Although Kurapika had better control over his eyes now than Chrollo had previously seen, he could feel the anxiety and anger of the blonde through their inevitable physical contact. Even just the look on his face was enough to betray this.

'You can wait for a long time if you want to see those scarlet eyes you love so much. I will not show them to the likes of you.' Chrollo laughed softly when he heard that. It hadn't been his main goal, but it was an obvious one. 'You're aware that everything you say has already crossed my mind and have taken all of it into consideration.'

'Am I not helping you, though.' The smile on Chrollo's lips widened a little when he saw his words sunk in with Kurapika. 'Am I not giving you more reasons and openings to make it easier for you to kill me? Are my words not what you expected from me?'

'You don't show your real intentions to anyone but the spiders. You're only playing this game to mess with me. I don't care how, but something made you into a sociopath. A sociopath with the childish need to get what he wants; no matter the consequence. What you want right now is not to live or die, but to see the live pair of scarlet eyes. Something you can't with anyone else, because you murdered every last Kurta.'

'I am being transparent.' Kurapika huffed, and the antagonizing from the man in front of him made the corners of his lips curl up into a slight grin,

'All you ever do is play games.'

'Then why did you want to be in here to talk with me if you knew I was going to do this? You're not going to find the reason to kill me by doing that. Does that frustrate you? Are you looking for confrontation of your situation?'

'I could say I am not inclined to tell you my reasons, but that would only confirm your words. I have already found the reason.'

'Then you're not searching for an answer, but these conjured walls won't hurt you, and you want to see me die up close? That is more cruel and impressive than I expected from you.' Kurapika didn't respond to it, but Chrollo's fascination only intensified at the possibility of this thought. That the Kurta had perhaps crossed the line to kill already and had turned closer to Hisoka amused him greatly.

'By now you're used to getting everything you want, aren't you?'

'You know I'm not a fool. If something is unobtainable, I will take my hands off it.'

'You _are _a fool if you think you're going to see my scarlet eyes again before you die.'

'But there's still several possibilities left for me to reach it, why should I give up.' Together with Chrollo tilting his head to the side a little, Kurapika's brows relaxed and he sighed deeply. He was well aware of these possibilities, but… 'You know in less than thirty minutes one of those possibilities will be impossible for you to evade.'

'I will not let it come down to—' When Kurapika looked back up to respond, Chrollo had gotten hold of the blonde's chin, and pushed their lips together. Kurapika's eyes were shocked open for a couple of motionless seconds, in which he looked straight into Chrollo's desiring greys. He cursed himself that he'd given the opening, and realized the spider had gotten a short second of what he wanted. He pushed him away forcefully when he got control back over his body.

'Do you take satisfaction in this?' Kurapika swiftly wiped his lips clean and looked back up at the gleam in Chrollo's eyes.

'You know I do. I love those eyes.'

'If you love them so much, you should have made friendly contact with our clan, not murder and sell everything.' Chrollo huffed before answering,

'You have a point there. But luckily you're still alive.'

'That won't do you much good.'

'We have a difference in opinion on that.' Intention was very clear in the spider's eyes, and Kurapika took a deep breath – this time with his eyes open – before responding,

'There's no excuse for what you've done, but I know you're not looking for one. I don't really care what made you this way. Just tell me one thing.' He paused and waited for Chrollo's attention to spread further than his eyes again before asking the question, '.. You are aware that Pakunoda gave her life to inform the rest of the spiders. What does this do to you?'

'Are you looking for a way out of killing me, or do you want confirmation, because I can give both.' Kurapika gritted his teeth at that answer. He should've expected it, but somehow he'd hoped for more. There wasn't a lot that could push his buttons, but Chrollo Lucilfer was exactly the sort of person he detested with all his might.

The man made sense, he knew and realized exactly what he was doing, he cared about those close to him, and he took an extra step to do what a lot of people would like to do.

It made sense, all of it.

This was all a big part of what kept Kurapika from making a final move.

'Would it work if I tried it again? Or would you chain me?'

'These walls are sensitive to Nen, you're already aware of that.' Chrollo tilted his head again and smirked at hearing the words. Savior wouldn't be difficult if the conjured walls could be dissolved by Nen, after all. But now Kurapika had willingly told about it himself.

'Well then.' He lowered a hand and stroke it up Kurapika's upper leg. All the way until the blonde grabbed his wrist and exuded force with the intention to break it. However, focusing on stopping him and keeping his eyes from going scarlet, all on top of trying to figure out his own course of action was proving to be difficult to manage, and with a couple of movements Chrollo had freed himself and reversed the situation –having a tight hold of both Kurapika's wrists. He closed his face in on him, but stopped an inch short; his expression as unchanging as it ever was, but the gleam was clearly visible in those eyes of his. Kurapika gritted his teeth, but refused to look away from the situation.

'One of the reasons you're unable to kill me is because if you would, you would take a freedom you dearly want. But it's also a freedom we always wanted and we took it. You're afraid you'll become us if you do this. However…' The words stopped coming out of his mouth when Kurapika snapped out and sunk his teeth in Chrollo's bottom lip. It would be easier to just close his eyes, but Kurapika wouldn't have that – he had something to prove right now, and it might be the last chance. '…How does it feel living at the other side of the line?' Chrollo asked when he regained some lip movement, looking down in the Kurta's furious glare. Together with that, he bit harder and almost bit through the man's lip before Chrollo forced him to stop with a twist of the blonde's wrists. He took the opportunity of Kurapika's open mouth and pushed their lips together a second time. Lightly licking the trickle of blood away on the inside of his mouth.

Meanwhile, Kurapika's hands were flexing and unflexing in frustration. Instinctively he'd closed his eyes to the touch, and didn't want to open them again – knowing that Chrollo had long noticed this happening.

The man hovering over him shifted his weight a little to get his body closer, but let go of Kurapika's lips when he stopped moving. Kurapika still keeping his eyes shut.

'Well, it seems that won't work anymore.' He said in a soft voice, 'If you're not used to affection anymore, I supposed you'd react strongly. It was a 50/50 chance to seeing your beautiful eyes or this. I guess I struck out.' Kurapika's lips turned up in a smirk for a second before he replied to that.

'You're well aware of the reason I'm keeping my eyes closed at this point, don't play dumb.' In reaction to that, Chrollo leaned in that last inch, and licked at those tightly closed lips. If this touch was causing such a reaction with Kurapika, then what intensity would make him open his eyes again?

But he never got the chance to get very far.

Kurapika had been able to free one of his hands and pushed him away again. Although distanced, Chrollo still sat there with amusement written all over his face. Especially when Kurapika finally opened his eyes again.

'Are you vengeful over us being the cause of Pakunoda's death?'

'You're staying on your side of the line? For a second I thought you'd be able to kill me. What is actually keeping you? Would it help you if we'd hunt down your friends? You know that's a possibility if you kill me now. I don't believe they're at your strength level yet, are they? Perhaps it's a culmination of all the reasons I've mentioned. But I don't feel an intent to kill from you. I haven't from the moment you trapped yourself in here with me. Why do we still have walls around us? Is your plan B to buy time for friends to arrive? But it's useless to ask this, isn't it? You will not answer me.'

'You really are a child.' Kurapika closed his eyes for a couple moments to will the red away. 'Curious to a fault.'

'But your body was more curious just now than I was, wasn't it?'

'It doesn't matter what my body does, you will stay still from now on.'

'But there's no real consequence if I don't, now is there? Why should I stay still?' When no answer arrived within a couple of seconds, Chrollo pulled hard on the one wrist of the blonde he still held tightly, forcing the Kurta on top of him, and instantly laying a hand on the back of his head to keep him close. He started gleaming again when he noticed the effect,

'It seems it's getting harder for you to keep your emotions in check, isn't?'

'You will come after these eyes, won't you?'

'Is there a reason why I shouldn't?' In the couple moments of silence that followed, a lot happened in Kurapika's mind, and in Chrollo's as well. From the moment this situation arose, both had complete understanding of the how and why of this situation. Talking really hadn't been necessary. 'Your real hate stems from the detest at the part of you that resembles me – the desire to simply take what you want. But at the same time you want to love who you are, it's confusing, isn't it.'

'It's actually quite clear.' While looking into the blonde's reddening eyes, he knew by now all of this was just about stalling time, but it seemed like the amount of time given for others to arrive had been too much. He was getting himself caught in a web of words.

Chrollo wasn't objecting to any of this though. He closed the distance a third time, and this time Kurapika closed his eyes the moment their lips touched; realizing that by doing that Chrollo didn't get what he wanted. But Chrollo didn't stop there, and started licking the blonde's lips, trying for access. Meanwhile, Kurapika's free hand clasped tightly onto the arm keeping his head in place and made sure there were no sudden movements. He could still taste the blood on the tongue brushing his lips and opened his eyes for a second.

Wait, wasn't his goal to see his scarlet eyes?

Why were Chrollo's eyes closed?

* * *

_A/N_

_Aaaaahhhh distraction from my main story everywhere D:  
But y'know, Leaving people hanging at a cliff like this gives me an oddly good feeling.  
I do no torture on purpose (all that often) btw, it's really because I want to end it with that  
I couldn't help myself, there was Chrollo/Kurapika all over my tumblr, this oneshot was an absolute must  
Enjoy it! _


End file.
